In September 2015, Dr. Elisse Wright Barnes, JD, PhD, was unexpectedly laid off from a job she’d only had for ten months. To figure out her next step, Elisse enrolled in the Jewish Council for the Aging’s Career Gateway program for professional job seekers aged 50+, one of several job seeker support programs the agency offers. Today, facilitating the Career Gateway program is just one of the services Elisse provides to older job seekers through her company, Of a Certain Vintage Workforce Education (OACV) LLC, which partners with career and business development organizations, public library systems, and nonprofits to equip older adults to compete in today’s job market. Whether looking to make a career transition, pursuing an encore career or business, exploring nonprofit leadership, or returning to the workforce after a significant break, these individuals often need assistance to market themselves effectively in a social media-driven, subject matter expert-focused marketplace.
The “Of A Certain Vintage” Origin Story
When I participated in the Career Gateway program in the winter of 2016, a recruiter came in and water-hosed us with information about LinkedIn for about 90 minutes. I could see my classmates’ eyes glaze over at a certain point during the presentation. Their body language revealed their thoughts: “This is too complicated.” One lady said outright, “I’m not going to do this.”
I, however, had the opposite reaction. I thought this LinkedIn thing is the best thing ever. This answers many of our challenges as older job seekers, like our shrinking network and the belief that we’re not computer savvy and haven’t learned anything new in 20 years. So how do you expand your network? How do you research jobs? This is it!
So, I grabbed a couple of my classmates and said, “Come over to my house with your laptop and we are going to figure out this LinkedIn thing.” And I discovered that I had a talent for explaining it to people. Soon, the people in the first group were telling other people who were calling to ask, “Can you do it again and can I bring my friend Allison?”
So I did it a couple more times and soon my husband was making them coffee and I was giving them fruit because the lessons took four hours. After a while, people started saying, “We really should pay you.” And since I was unemployed, I wouldn’t turn them down.
But then it dawned on me. This is a niche. And it could be a niche that will make you rich! These people are not digital natives, and they have concerns about their ability to use social media for their job search and legitimate online privacy and security concerns. Clearly, part of the equation that was being overlooked was their need to feel safe and to feel in control. They needed to understand how to control both the information that went out into the world about them and the information that came in from the Wild, Wild, Web.
I asked myself: Can you design a training that not only teaches the fundamentals of LinkedIn for a successful job search but also addresses this whole other world of concerns?
Why not? People who were getting it for free were telling me that they would happily pay for it. Hello!!! There are 75 million baby boomers. If I got a dollar from each, I would do ok.
So, a business was born.
Your LinkedN Driving Instructor
I named the brand Your LinkedN Driving Instructor because that’s how I taught. When you learn to drive, you are behind the wheel, and the instructor is in the passenger seat. I never touched their computers. They worked on their own LinkedIn profiles, in real time, under my guidance. Because if you’re driven somewhere, you probably can’t get back. You’re not really paying attention. You’re sightseeing, chatting with the driver. But when you drive yourself, your mind automatically creates mental road maps “I made a right at the gas station, another turn at the 7-Eleven, etc.” By letting my students “drive” at their computer, rather than just passively taking in a presentation, they would build muscle memory so that they would retain more of what they learned and be able to access it beyond the time of the course.
In 2017, I landed my first contract with the Montgomery County Public Library system and got the trainings out of my kitchen. In 2020, the pandemic shifted my trainings online. This has enabled me to partner with the Westchester County (NY) Library system as well as career development organizations in Texas, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
Beyond LinkedIn: The Job Seeking Soft Skills
Your LinkedN Driving Instructor is still an entity – I still own the brand name. But I could see that there was a need for more. From the beginning, we would also discuss other job search-related challenges they were each having. So, I also offer presentations on the inner conversation that older job seekers need to have with themselves to be better candidates for a new job.
It’s what I call a “mindset reset.” It involves giving up some of your attachment to “the way things were.” I call it logging on and rebooting. Of course, ageism. But “ageism” goes both ways. Usually, the first person who tells us we’re too old for something is us! It’s self-directed. Then, of course, you’re likely to be interviewed by people in their 20’s and early 30’s. But how will you handle that? Are you condescending, contemptuous? Or do you connect authentically, no matter who the interviewer is?
Some considerations maybe didn’t exist for you in years past – personal considerations. You have to consider what your life looks like now. Just because you’ve always worked a 9-5 before doesn’t mean that it’s the best choice for you now. You may not need as much money because you already have a retirement income. You may not need benefits because you already have health care. You may need to work part-time, especially if you have caregiver responsibilities to others, like an aging parent or a spouse with an illness.
I became an entrepreneur largely because I had aging parents living in another state, and my husband had a chronic illness. There was no way I could take care of the people I loved and rise to greatness inside a 9-5 job. So, entrepreneurship was the best way to go. And I discovered that I love it! It would be tough for me to go back to a 9-5 now.
Older job seekers need to realize they have more freedom to shape their encore professional lives than they think. There are many opportunities, and we expose participants to and encourage them to embrace this new world of work.
What’s Next for Of A Certain Vintage Workforce Education?
Certification is the next step in OACV Workforce Ed’s evolution. I am at the point now where not having one is becoming an impediment. For example, I sometimes have to get affidavits signed by a notary. Once I get certified as a minority-owned or a woman-owned business, I won’t have to do that, so it’s something I’ve got to get.
The other next step is figuring out how to delegate managing the business. One of the challenges of solo entrepreneurship is balancing 1) doing the business with 2) marketing the business and 3) managing the business. It could be a software solution, human resource solution, or a combination of both. But the goal for this year is to minimize the time I spend managing the business management. I’m good at the marketing and the doing. But I’m not as good at, nor do I enjoy, managing the business. If the business is to grow in the next couple of years, I must delegate that vital role and spend more of my time on marketing and developing the trainings and, hopefully soon, online products.
Me and Montgomery County
Although originally from Columbus, Ohio, I came to Maryland after graduating from law school in 1986. I returned home to get my doctorate in the mid-1990s and moved to Montgomery County in 2000. I always wanted to live in the Washington, DC, area because, as a well-educated, (then) single black woman without children, I felt that there were only a handful of cities where I would not be considered an anomaly. In the DMV, there are lots of women like me to connect with. So when I was almost finished earning my doctorate from Ohio State and about to turn 40, I left Columbus for a job in DC. I moved into the Summit Hills apartments, where almost everybody new to the area seems to start out. I fell in love with Montgomery County and have now been here for 23 years. I graduated from Leadership Montgomery, served on the East County Citizens’ Advisory Board, and the Montgomery County Board of Elections, and have had leadership roles with the Friends of White Oak and the Nonprofit Village.
OACV Workforce Ed is a member of the Montgomery County Local Small Business Reserve Program and the Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce.
Advice for Small Business Owners
The only advice I give is super simple: Love what you do! You are much better equipped and more willing to accept the inevitable challenges inherent in running a business if you truly love what you do.